The
La Sirena brand, from Miami Cigar & Co., is releasing a new line
called Merlion, named for the mythical creature whose body is half
mermaid and half lion.

Assistant
director of marketing for Miami Cigar Barry Stein says that Merlion is
meant to balance out the portfolio, and will give an option to those who
may have shied from the more full-bodied La Sirena line.

While
La Sirena is made at the My Father Cigars factory in Nicaragua, Merlion
is being rolled at the La Aurora S.A. cigar factory in the Dominican
Republic, owned by Guillermo León. León is Spanish for lion, and sirena
is a mermaid, so the mythical merlion is a combination of the symbols of
each company.

The
cigars are made with Ecuadoran Corojo wrapper, a Brazilian Sumatra
binder and a filler blend of Dominican Corojo, Dominican Criollo,
Nicaraguan ligero and Brazilian Mata Fina. Three sizes—Robusto (5 inches
by 50 ring), Toro (5 1/2 by 54) and thick Toro (6 inches by 58
ring)—will come in boxes of 20 with suggested retail prices from $9 to
$10.50.

Miami Cigar expects the cigars to start shipping in late June of this year.